Originally Posted by
BassNotBass
I didn't say his feet were going to atrophy, I said some muscles just may. Don't make the mistake of thinking that running uses the same foot muscles as cycling... especially since everyone's technique/style can vary greatly. If you are a cyclist who wears cycling specific shoes, try riding in water shoes and platform pedals and notice the difference after a fifty miler or a century. It's only common sense that what you don't use, you lose and stiff cycling shoes are no different for your feet than leg braces are for your legs when walking.
In the late 80s I gave up the competitive aspect of cycling and simplified my cycling experience by riding like when I was a kid... whatever bike was available and in 'street' clothes. That's when I realized just how much a decade of wearing cycling specific shoes weakened my feet. I had trouble doing 20 miles in Chucks yet that was something that wouldn't phase me in the least as a kid. For the past 20+ years I've been riding in whatever shoes I happen to be wearing. I can do a century wearing nothing but my Chucks or water shoes strapped to my clips and not have the tiniest bit of soreness. You give that a try and let me know how it goes.
I recently began training as a triathlete and having had poor success as a runner for over 30 years, I have witnessed what decades of buying the latest and greatest supportive running shoes have done to my feet in terms of running. It's been a slow and painful process but I've never been able to run as far, without pain, as I have since changing my technique and running in minimalist shoes a few months ago. A testament to the adaptive nature and strength of the human body after years of ignorant abuse.
That's just personal experience and my humble opinion... I'm someone who always thought that training was meant to make a person stronger, not better with crutches. Take from it what you will.
Let's look at the flip side of the coin here.
Muscles only get stronger when they have to work harder.
If your foot muscles have to work harder while wearing "regular" shoes that means your pedal stroke is less efficient.
If pedaling efficiency doesn't matter to you, wear regular shoes.
If it does, wear cycling shoes.
I find the notion that cycling shoes will
weaken your feet to be a little off. They may not strengthen the foot, but I doubt the effect is somehow subtractive.
You said yourself that you'd been buying supportive shoes for decades. Don't you think your footwear choices and gait for walking/running have had an effect on the strength of your foot muscles or do you think it's just the cycling shoes?
I'm well aware the detrimental effect of too much cushioning in walking or running shoes has. At work we have these foam and rubber mats to stand on at different stations, some of them stacked two deep. I'd rather stand on the hard tile floor because all that cushioning just kills my legs and feet. They throw off balance and put stress on joints unevenly.